A Half-Hour Of Reality Blah Blah

Enjoying a beautiful Saturday off of work today, since Brian and I switched days off this weekend. So, while I have a half hour to kill before possibly heading over to Cold Stone Creamery for a sinfully delicious ice cream concoction, I figured I'd write another "life" post.

In matters of work, Brian has a new full-time job he starts on Monday which is great news for him yet potentially rotten news for me, at least as far as free/vacation time is concerned. While this development won't be fundamentally altering my current work schedule at all, it does pretty much zap my ability to take days off in the hope that he can cover me as he did when I was sick for a few days a month ago.

In an ironic twist, Brian has also switched sporting engagements. This news would normally have me tapdancing across the floor in glee, but in the current circumstances it actually complicates things more than they were before. The last three summers have seen me using up my allotted vacation time taking Saturdays off in lieu of shorter Sundays while Brian played in a baseball league from May through July. The idea was we'd simply switch weekend days (like we did today) for a three-month span. Sundays are shorter days, hourwise, and I found that I greatly enjoyed having Saturdays off and was more able to go out and do things with friends than I normally can't do on Sundays due to our differing schedules. The drag with this switching off was that being on a salary figured at x hours per week, the only way I could keep from falling "behind" in work hours would be to use a few vacation hours every week to "fill up" my work time ... and by the time Brian's baseball "season" was over, my vacation time was totally used up. Thus, when I heard that he had switched to playing golf in a Friday league instead, I was immediately thrilled that I would actually have some vacation time to burn for a change...until the "new job" news screwed that all up. Now I actually have vacation time to burn and no easy way to burn it. Wunderbar.

Another thing Brian's new Friday commitment torpedoed was next weekend's Zombi concert. A difficult decision ensued: theoretically, I could pull strings somehow and get this to work, yet I also realize that I'm going to have to pick my day-off battles for the time being since my rescheduling resources are pretty damn limited. Thus, the Zombi show got the axe. Sorry, Karl. :(

In the much better news department, I am slowly but surely edging back towards financial daylight at last after barely getting by the last two months and change. Helping matters along here was an unannounced raise at work -- nothing spectacular, but an additional 7-8% of take-home pay definitely can't do any harm to my situation -- and a much-smaller-than-expected insurance bill this month. By my calculations, my horribly emaciated bank account should finally start gaining some weight by the middle of June. Hooray.

There is another matter slowly appearing on the horizon that will require some deep thought reflection, and posting space, as well as more fun financial worrying, but that can wait for another time (hint: it has to do with this condo). Right now, I think we're off to get some ice cream (a celebration treat for myself for the above financial news) and then, later this evening, Sarah and I are heading out to meet up with some of the "old gang" down in Twinsburg. Saturdays off truly rawk.